Monday, July 4, 2016

Leo Lessman Fights in the Battle of the Somme – The Centenary of the WWI Battles of Verdun and the Somme

On July
1, Britain marked the centenary of one of the traumatic events in its history, the Battle of the Somme. Here we present some more photographs from Leo Lessman's
war diary, showing scenes from the German side of the battle.

This year marks the centenary of two of the
greatest battles of the First World War, the Battle of Verdun (February -
December 1916), and the battle on the river Somme (July - November 1916). The
battle of the Somme is regarded as one of the bloodiest in world history. The
importance of these battles goes beyond military history--they profoundly influenced the warring
countries: Germany, France and Britain. The continuing struggle and terrible
losses undercut the foundations of society in these states, which were never
the same afterwards.

At
Verdun, the Germans planned to draw the French into battle for a position which
they would feel compelled to defend at all costs. Verdun was such a position. A
fortress city since the Roman period, it was the last French position to
surrender in the 1870/71 Franco-Prussian war and was a source of pride for the
French in their defeat. The chief of staff of the German army, Erich von Falkenhayn (of which we have writtenbefore) believed that the French would not
cede Verdun and it was a chance to "bleed the French white." He
planned a series of limited attacks on positions on the perimeter of Verdun,
which would draw the French to concentrate forces and fight for them.
Falkenhayn planned to concentrate massive numbers of artillery and butcher the
French, forcing them to retreat and even stop fighting.

The
offensive opened on February 21st and was a success at first. The
Germans took some key positions. Just as they hoped, the French decided to
fight and defend Verdun. They moved large number of troops to the Verdun front,
and rotated units every 2 weeks, to lessen the attrition in battle. They also
massed their own artillery and showed the Germans that they could inflict heavy
losses. In the end, the French recaptured all the land taken by the Germans,
but at a terrible cost – it is estimated that both sides lost between 714,000
to 972,000 troops – killed, wounded and missing.

The
Allied Somme river offensive was planned in December 1915 as the great
offensive of the year against Germany. The German offensive in Verdun made the
battle even more important – as a means to draw Germans forces away and to aid
a great Russian offensive (the "Brusilov offensive" June – September
1916). Verdun changed the planning – the French could not lead the attack and
the British were now the main force with French support. The British army was
now a large volunteer army, made up of men who had answered Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener's call for "100,000 volunteers". 2.5 million men
answered the call. "Kitchener's army" had all the enthusiasm and
patriotism in the world, but it lacked sound training and experience (most of
those who could have trained them better, the professional army, were either
dead, wounded or prisoner).

World War I recruitment poster featuring Lord Kitchener/Wikipedia

On
0730, July 1st 1916, after a weeklong bombardment, the British
soldiers "went over the top" – climbed out of the trenches, formed
groups and started advancing towards the German lines. The British commanders
told their troops that the heavy artillery had demolished the German lines, and
that all they had to do is cross "no-man's land" and take the German
lines. This was not true. British
patrols and raids mounted during lulls in the bombardment found that German
barbed wire was intact and that many German units were well dug in. This
information was not received by British high command. The German soldiers were protected in
underground bomb shelters and were mostly unscathed by the heavy fire.

As
the assault commenced, the German troops ran to their positions and opened fire
on the oncoming British troops. The concentration of the British soldiers in
large groups made the slaughter all too great – 57,000 casualties, 21,000 of
them killed. It was the largest number of casualties for a single day of
fighting in the history of the British. The
British catastrophe was larger than statistics can show. The British units were "Pals battalions" – whole units recruited from the same geographic area, from
cities and villages. Friends, neighbors, co-workers all volunteered together –
and were killed together. In one morning, thousands of women were bereaved. The
losses crossed all social boundaries.

The battle did not end after one day. The
British resumed their attacks, and the Germans counter attacked. The German
Army commander on the Somme, Fritz von Below ordered his troops:" the
vital thing is to hold on to our positions at all costs…The enemy should have
to carve its way over heaps of corpses". The battle raged all summer. The
thunder of guns was heard as far away as London. In September the British
introduced a new weapon – the tank, but it did not achieve the break through expected.

The
battle ended by November. The British forces conquered an area in the depth of
10 kilometers in the German lines. The cost was terrible – 600-700,000
casualties (150,000 killed) for the British and French, 450, 000 Germans (164,
000 killed).

According
to his diary, Leo Lessman fought in the Battle of the Somme (Somme-Schlacht). His
unit was stationed by Bapaume, a town in northern France, just outside of the
area the British were planning to attack. Lessman's 103 Field Artillery
regiment provided close cover fire to the German front line forces, who were
trying to stop the British. The album does not show photos of the battlefield
but Lessman took many pictures of Bapaume, which was badly hit during the
battle (here are morephotos of the damage in Bapaume from the
Bundesarchiv/Wikicommons).

The Germans retreated from Bapaum in March 1917,
when the German army conducted a strategic retreat to a new, heavily fortified
line that was supposed to spare them another Somme blood bath. A year later, in
March 1918 during the great German Spring offensive, the Germans retook Bapaume.
It was finally liberated by Australian troops in September 1918. (Bapaume has a
Chemin des Anzacs since).

A hotel in Bapaume, damaged in a bombardment

Townhall of Bapaume, damaged in a bombardment

Hospital road in Bapaume

A German
observation balloon, near Bapaume

A street
concert in Vaulx, probably
in the vicinity of Bapaume

Infantry reinforcements
on the way to the front, Vaulx (near Bapaume)

Ruins of what
was the village Serra (west of Bapaume). The village changed hands several
times and was totally destroyed